“I cannot imagine otherwise.”Dagobert leaned closer.“She called me Alaric, in that moment of moments, and until then, I was convinced she saw no link between us.”
Eustache’s eyes narrowed and he swore softly.“There can be no doubt then.”
Dagobert was reassured that his suspicious companion had also believed Alienor to be ignorant of the truth.But they were too close to the critical moment to allow anyone to stand in their way—and too late to revise their plans.Earlier this very day, another messenger had come from Brabant.’Twas only a matter of weeks before they departed for the last confrontation and not a good time for unexpected revelations about one’s immediate household.
“How else might she have deceived us, I wonder?”Eustache mused.
Dagobert’s heart sank.How else, indeed?“God knows.I only pray she holds her tongue.”
“And if she has already loosed it?”Eustache asked the inevitable question and Dagobert’s lips thinned.He could not even bear to think of what Eustache was suggesting.Was their cause truly worth the sacrifice of anything—or anyone—that lay in their path?
“Who would she tell?How could she betray us?”
Eustache winced.“We have had messengers, who have come and gone again.Who can say if a pretty lady waylaid one in the stables or before he reached the gates?”
What did he truly know about his wife and her loyalties?
Dagobert inhaled and paced with new vigor.A pang of guilt shot through him with the memory of Alienor’s desire to talk.He could only wonder whether he had forced her into a deception by refusing to speak with her.Would his trusting her have ensured her silence?
Or would trusting her have accelerated her deception?
He shook his head, unable to think clearly so soon after his lovemaking had gone awry.He needed a cup of wine and distance from the muted sound of Alienor’s weeping to collect his thoughts.
Why did she weep?Because she had disappointed him or because she had unwittingly revealed her truth and feared repercussions?
’Twas unsettling, that soft sound.Dagobert knew that if he let it fill his ears any longer, he would be tempted to return to bed and console her.Duty bound as always, he did permit himself to wonder briefly whether he made much of little, but quickly dismissed that possibility.What other explanation could there be for the goatherd’s name springing from her lips?Sheknew.He gestured toward the stairs with impatience and Eustache rose to his feet with a nod of agreement.
“What of your namesake?”the knight asked, indicating the sleeping goat.“Should he not be back in your chambers?”
“I do not care where she finds him,” Dagobert said.“There are more important matters at hand in this moment.We must review what she might have overheard.”
“It has been weeks,” Eustache noted and Dagobert winced.
“Aye,” he ceded, feeling as if the prospect of success was slipping through his fingers.
Perhaps he should not have feared what wedding him would cost his bride, but what taking her to wife would cost him.
The newsthat came with the morning sun confirmed Dagobert’s worst suspicions, though he strove to hide his disappointment.A delegation from the king himself was said to be riding toward Montsalvat.He heartily doubted that ’twas coincidence or fancy bringing the royal party so far afield.He met Eustache’s gaze steadily when the sentry delivered the message, his gut tightening at the coldness that settled in his friend’s eyes.
Eustache had never had any space in his heart for spies.
Alienor!How could she have betrayed him thus?’Twas unthinkable that he had taken her to his hearth, his bed, his very heart, and she had rewarded him only with deceit.‘Twas outrageous that he realized in this moment that she held his own heart in her hands.
He had been a thousand kinds of fool and had no doubt it would cost him dearly.
To sayall was in uproar by the time Alienor descended to the hall would be vastly understating the whirlwind of activity that confronted her.Rushes were being swept out, trestle tables set up, and a fire burned in the second and seldom used fireplace.New herbs were being carried in from the garden by the armload.It seemed to Alienor’s nose that only mint was sprouting so early in the year, and she doubted that even a scrap of it had been left outside.Indeed, they must have scoured the mountainsides to have found so much.
Iolande stood at the eye of the storm, dispatching servants this way and that with a stern eye and a wave of one long white hand.Clearly, some guests of merit arrived, for Iolande wore a kirtle of deep blue silk.Its hems were rich with silver embroidery, the like of which Alienor had never seen.She glanced to her own olive and gold gown, knowing ’twas the finest she had other than her wedding kirtle.She was reluctant to change to that one after the events of the previous night.
Would Dagobert ever forgive her blunder?It had been upsetting to find the unicorn sleeping in the antechamber that morning, without so much as a wisp of straw to lie upon.Worse, it seemed that the entire household knew of her error, for they avoided her so surely that she might have been a leper without a bell.
Perhaps she saw reaction where there was none.’Twas evident that there was much to be done.The cook raised his voice at a clumsy assistant in the kitchens, his tone filled with impatience, as if to support her notion.
Alienor approached Iolande, determined to make herself useful.“Madame, how may I be of assistance?”She was stunned when the older woman gave her a look of such hostility that her blood chilled in her veins.
Had Dagobert told hismother?Surely this could not be.
“I doubt that we shall need your assistance this morn,” Iolande responded coldly.“I trust you will find some way to amuse yourself.”
